Hakata Art Dolls The gift of a story There is a custom of giving Hakata dolls as wedding gifts or on the birth of a child, or for house or office warmings. Every doll has a story to tell, usually from noh or kabuki drama, conveying a message of happiness to the receiver. It is easy to become captivated by Hakata dolls, derived as they are from the bold and lively townspeople's culture of the Edo period (1600-1868), and having grown to become some of the most beloved dolls in Japan. This doll by Mr Yuji Osoegawa received the Prime Minister's Award Brushwork and a craftsman's skills I visited the workshop of Hakata doll craftsman, Mr Yuji Osoegawa, in a quiet residential area along the Muromi River in Hakata, Kyushu. The doll maker first crafts the dolls in clay and makes molds. A very fine-grained white clay is then thoroughly wedged and this is put in the mold to make the dolls' forms. This special clay gives the dolls their clear, bright complexions. Each form must be extracted with extreme care so as not to smudge or damage the fine facial features such as the eyes and nose. Only about 50 dolls can be made from one mold, so the doll makers must make several of the same molds if they need to produce a certain type in quantity. When the dolls are removed from the molds they are first dried and then fired in a kiln after which pigment is applied and the facial features are painted on. It takes 20-60 days to complete one with the skilful brushwork of the craftsman adding liveliness and warmth to the finished work. Mr Yuji Osoegawa painting one of his dolls Art and management Mr Osoegawa became a doll maker under the influence of his father, Zengo, who was involved in the doll making industry. As soon as Mr Osoegawa graduated from university he apprenticed to master doll maker Hiroo Honda and went independent after three years. Now he is one of the leading artists in the industry. He tells me that individual artistry is an important part of the doll maker's work, but an equally important job is sales and management. The peak of production for Hakata dolls was in 1983 when the Shinkansen bullet train first reached Hakata. Dolls flew off the shelves that year as Hakata souvenirs. But demand has been falling ever since. The fact that more and more people are living in apartments is one big reason for the decline in sales because these dolls are made for display in traditional Japanese houses. So local artisans have begun supplementing their inventory with smaller dolls or wall-hangings suitable for more compact living spaces. They have also been venturing into the production of contemporary "character" dolls such as Hello Kitty and local star baseball players. Making a mold. His 90-year-old mother, in the rear, applies color. Passing on Hakata culture Hakata dolls started to be made at the beginning of the 17th century. The prototypes were bisque-fired clay figurines that were developed around 1600 when a large number of craftsmen had gathered in the area to build a castle for the new lord, Kuroda Nagamasa. Then, in the middle of the Edo period (1600-1868), they started to make dolls in earnest using clay molds and the popularity of these dolls grew with the help of the newly emerged townspeople's culture. By the latter half of the Edo period, Hakata dolls were being exported all around Japan. Originally the dolls were known as "Hakata Suyaki Ningyo" (Hakata bisque-ware dolls), but the "suyaki" part of the name was removed when two works were awarded prizes at a prestigious exhibition in Tokyo in 1890 and from that time the dolls came to be known simply as Hakata Ningyo. Folktale dolls waiting to be decorated Doll entitled "Shochikubai" by Mr Yuji Osoegawa A prayer for happiness Most Hakata dolls depict characters from auspicious stories. There are "great beauties," kabuki dolls, noh drama dolls, Buddhist moral-telling dolls, and folk tale dolls -- but every doll maker has his own way of interpreting a particular character, so this creates great variety within a single theme. They study the gestures of famous characters in Western- and Japanese-style painting, in sculpture and in the performing arts to give the dolls their own particular character. Mr Osoegawa is also using traditional theater as a reference for new ideas. And he not only goes to the noh and kabuki theater in Hakata but always tries to make time to see a play or two when he is in Osaka or Tokyo. His goal is to give his dolls that certain look or pose that will immediately convey to the viewer the spirit of a particular story. "Every day is a journey of discovery," he says. No sooner has he made one type of doll than he is looking for a new theme. This doll called "Dreaming" by Mr Yuji Osoegawa was purchased by the emperor and empress on the birth of their granddaughter, Princess Mako Akishino. A doll for your next celebration I asked the shop assistant at the doll sales counter in the Iwata Department Store in Hakata what sort of dolls people buy for what occasion. She replied the Seven Lucky Gods or big gold-painted dolls are most popular for office warmings and little girl dolls derived from folktales are common when a baby girl is born. People also buy Hakata dolls as ornaments for the Dolls' Festival and Children's day to pray for the healthy growth of children. As I walked the streets of Hakata I started to realize how many shops and offices had Hakata dolls displayed. The more I learned about the dolls, the more I became fascinated by the brilliance of the stories they told through the expert craftsmanship of their makers.